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AN UPDATE ON THE BEE WOLF (Philanthus triangulum)
Last year the presence of this nationally vulnerable (RDB2) solitary wasp in two new
Essex localities was described in Newsletter No 3. Apparently the wasp had an
exceptionally good year all round with reports of the species from a number of new
localities including ones in Kent and Surrey and even the Cambridge Botanical Gardens.
This year I returned to the Chadwell site in early-mid July and found many individuals,
with a lot of females already active, provisioning their burrows. A visit to an old sand pit
near Linford turned up another colony with hundreds of individuals visiting thistleheads
for nectar.
The wasp requires sandy ground or sandfaces in which to make its nest, and a warm south
facing situation. Although the weather in early July was good, the unsettled weather since
then will not have helped the wasp this year.
A NOTE ON FOXES
On returning home from an evening lecture Monday 10th May, I spoke to a cat crossing
the path in front of me. A little further down the road I thought I saw another cat in the
gutter, but as I drew closer, 1 could see in the street light that it had a fine bushy tail and
two large pointed ears.
The fox allowed me to approach to within a few feet, as it carried on worrying at some
waste paper (fish and chip wrapping?). I watched it for a minute or so, and spoke to it
(yes, I'm like that!) It paused to look at me and moved into the middle of the road with its
prize, but did not seem to be gaining any food from the paper.
Vulpes vulpes, our native wild dog, was only a little larger than many cats, perhaps its
long legs give it that appearance. It stayed around whilst I went in to call my wife to see
it, but we thought it unwise to put out food in the street, too much traffic normally, and 1
thought it best to leave it to fend for itself.
It set me thinking though, several times over the last few months, I have seen a fox in the
back garden (not particularly large nor secluded) and each appears to have a healthy
pelage. Are we in fact seeing a change in the usual shy behaviour, a lack of persecution
(hopefully) encouraging daylight foraging, or is the population growing so that it is
necessary to hunt for more hours than the night can offer?
Ken Hill